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Identity In Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare

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Recommended: Discuss the disguise in twelfth night

Identity is characterized by the ability to present one’s individualism. In Willam Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, the character Viola, a woman, relates to the complexity of identity while undergoing a disguise as a man named Cesario. Viola’s role in this play is to be a love messenger for the Duke, Orsino, as Orsino attempts to win over his potential lover’s heart, Olivia. As Viola and Orsino spend more time together, Viola finds herself in a complex situation where her affection for Orsino turns into a deep love. In Act II, scene 4, lines 104–121, Viola refrains from revealing her true feelings towards the person she loves, Orsino, by expressing her identity through her disguise; and this disguise only adds more torture for herself because …show more content…

As she plays Cesario, she never struggles with the idea of falling in love with Olivia; her only worry is that if she did tell Orsino about her true feelings, she would lose his trust and he would begin to question her loyalty because her feelings might interfere with what he wants, Olivia loving him. This moment shows how she is caught between her identities. In lines 104 and 105, Viola disguised as Cesario begins to speak in the third person, offering a male perspective on love rather than sharing her own feelings. She claims that a man's love is "as true of heart" as a woman's, implying that a woman can love a man in the same way that a man can love a woman. Viola continues to put a shift in her language, transitioning to the first and second-person point of view. This change draws attention to her action, as she starts to share personal stories. She shares a story with Orsino while making an indirect reference to herself by saying, "[Her] father had a daughter [who] loved a man as it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship." This signifies Viola’s approach to getting closer to expressing her true feelings. She is aware that she would feel the same way about Orsino if she were in her position as a woman. However, she still holds back due to the fear of losing him forever from telling him that she loves him when she uses

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1166 Words | 5 Pages

In the Twelfth Night written by William Shakespeare, it demonstrates Viola using her head to make the decision to dress up as a boy and become a part of the Duke Orsino’s court. She states, “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my Intent”

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

Both of these quotes put Viola in a difficult situation, as she cannot deny this statement, nor can she easily accept what Orsino says as she isn’t really a ‘guy’. As both text’s gender topics revolve around the idea of the ideology of men superiority, in ‘Twelfth Night’ Orsino declares “Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, more longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, than women’s are.” In this quote, dramatic irony is evident, as Orsino contrarily states that men’s love is more ‘unfirm’ and changes more often than women’s, in which the audience knows Viola’s true identity, parallel with the statement. Opposingly, in ‘She’s the Man’ a coach states, “It’s a scientific fact, girls can’t beat boys! It’s as simple as that.”

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623 Words | 3 Pages

Viola liking duke Orsino but duke Orsino liked liked Olivia and Olivia liked Sebastian. Nobody seemed to like the right person until the

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1806 Words | 8 Pages

Viola’s aspirations are not to go against the social order as she is not a real servant but the play allows her to transgress and glide through the class mobility. She epitomizes social fluidity, transgressing the boundaries of specific roles in society. However her flexibility is asserted on her higher social status with which she begins the play. This once again proves that although the boundaries can be broken, only the elite bourgeoisie can truly permeate them completely. Malvolio remains ‘mad’ for admitting his love while Viola moves upwards to gain marriage.

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2418 Words | 10 Pages

In the doubly androgynous role of male actor playing a woman playing a man, Viola/Cesario must literally perform the role of the male; her success before the aristocratic Orsino and Olivia consequently points to the constructedness and performative character of gender itself” (Casey,123-124). Shakespeare uses the ideals and rules of society to his advantage. Viola is played by a young boy who is seen as similarly demure and desirable enough to draw a crowd, as well as still standing lower on the social food chain than men do. It finds the perfect balance between socially acceptable and nonthreatening, allowing for a more disguised script hinting at queer desires and gender exploration. The complexity of a man playing a woman disguised as a man is an exploration in the performance of gender alone.

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826 Words | 4 Pages

In order to capture a reader's attention, a story must be filled with alluding imagery and engrossed in the developing relationships between characters. In the Twelfth Night play, Shakespeare does an amazing job on grabbing the reader's attention and truly painting a picture of the deception and hardships characters are facing. Shakespeare uses some of the main characters like Orisino, Viola, and Maria, in order to develop the story overtime. Viola disguises herself as Cesario, the fool dressed up as a priest, and Maria misleads Malvolio (TN 1.2. 44-58).

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307 Words | 2 Pages

Numerous individuals in Twelfth Night expect a mask of some kind. The most evident illustration is Viola, who puts on the attire of a man and makes everybody trust that she is a male. This camouflage causes incredible sexual disarray, as an odd adoration triangle results in which Viola is infatuated with Orsino, who cherishes Olivia—who adores Cesario, the male character that Viola expect. In this manner, by dressing his hero in male pieces of clothing, Shakespeare indicates how pliant and self-preposterous human sentimental fascination can be. Another character in camouflage is Malvolio, who dresses strangely (in crossed straps and yellow tights) in the trust of winning Olivia.

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William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, performed in 1602, includes many characters who assume different identities through disguise. Viola, a shipwrecked woman who believes her brother, Sebastian, died at sea, takes on the identity of a man under the name of Cesario which leads to several cases of mistaken identity. Malvolio, the steward of a noblewoman’s household, dons the identity of a nobleman after he is tricked to think that Olivia, the noblewoman, is secretly in love with him. Additionally, Feste, the fool of the play and Olivia’s jester, assumes the identity of a priest to mislead Malvolio into a state of madness. Through all of the different disguises in this play, changes in clothing play a powerful role.

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

Twelfth Night seems to present gender as a mask to be worn and taken off at will, a fluid concept that changes to suit one’s needs and emotions. By playing Cesario, Viola partly becomes this version of herself, so Olivia, by loving Cesario, has feelings for Viola by extension. When Sebastian makes his reveal, Olivia marries him for two reasons. The first is an external piece of reasoning, being that in Elizabethan comedies such as this, heterosexual pairings must happen for the play to follow the fairly strict expectations of a comedy. The second falls to Sebastian’s demeanor.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, the strongest woman character, Olivia, presents traits of mastery throughout the play. The play begins in Illyria where a female named Viola undergoes a shipwreck, thinking her brother Sebastian is astray. The captain who found her tells about a Duke named Orsino who is in love with a woman named Olivia. Viola then decides to dress as a man and titles herself as “Cesario”, now beginning to work for Duke Orsino but swiftly finds herself falling in love with him. Duke Orsino has Cesario send love letters to Olivia, who eventually falls in love with Cesario instead of him.

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425 Words | 2 Pages

Viola finds herself forgeting who she truly is because she is around people who don't know her truly. Viola feels pressure she must keep her identity a secret but she would also like to tell The Duke that she isn't a man because she likes him. All of this

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713 Words | 3 Pages

For a woman to show interests in current affairs, express opinions, write literature was unladylike. Viola, fending for herself, in distant land, disguises herself as a boy named Cesario. Cross-dressing, in Elizabethan society, was seen as highly immoral. Viola 's male disguise “allows her to escape the confinement of a single perspective and a single voice by momentarily unfixing sexual stereotypes (184)”(Melchoir). Furthermore, Viola’s situation in Twelfth Night is not typical of an Elizabethan woman because she proves herself to be capable and intelligent.

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795 Words | 4 Pages

In the story it shows a love triangle between Orsino, Cesario (Viola), and Olivia. Cesario falls in love with Orsino, Viola is in love with Cesario, and Orsino is still in love with Olivia. The characters in the story all show happiness and joy throughout because it’s a story that ends in love unlike Romeo and Juliet where it ends in a tragedy. As said in Twelfth Night, “Its central plot concerns a love triangle between the Illyrian nobleman Orsino, his beloved but unattainable Olivia, and the shipwrecked Viola.” (Lee

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1851 Words | 8 Pages

Thus, there are ways that Viola and Olivia both reserve information about themselves while also remaining authentic to an extent. Aside from mere personality, though, Olivia as well as Viola can be distinguished from other characters in Twelfth Night not just by their genders, but also by their attempts at isolating themselves from society. Olivia, according to Valentine, vows “till seven years’ heat,/ Shall not behold her face at ample view” (1.1.25-26). This is due to her brother’s death.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

In the play Twelfth Night, through the depiction of Orsino’s and Viola’s desires for romantic love, Shakespeare portrays how adjustable and self-delusional human romantic attraction can be, especially when blinded by wants and needs. Viola, who puts on the appearance of a man, makes everybody think she is a male. Her disguise becomes a sexual confusion throughout the play for several characters, creating an odd love triangle where Viola loves Duke Orsino, who loves Oliva, which then on the other hand loves Viola, in disguise as Cesario. On the other hand, Malvolio dreams of marrying his beloved Olivia, and gaining authority over his superiors, like Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses disguise in the play to show several confusions and internal conflicts between the characters, proving how malleable and deluded some human attractions can be.

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